Chapter 17
17
Something's wrong. That can't be.
Simone thought of nothing else all day.
The day passed uneventfully.
She couldn't go out, but as always, the best meals were prepared for her every meal, she took a bath with warm, fragrant water after finishing her meal, and fell asleep in a cozy bed.
Simone's life hadn't changed.
Except that Anna wasn't there all day.
The next morning, Simone didn't get out of bed, but blinked and stared at the ceiling for a long time.
Then, a servant came in with a warm towel and greeted her affectionately.
"Simone, did you sleep well?"
It wasn't Anna.
"...Anna?"
The servant smiled at Simone's question.
"I wonder. Will you get up?"
I wonder?
Simone got out of bed and looked around.
Originally, Anna should have greeted Simone in the morning, handed her a warm towel, and asked if she wanted to eat.
But as soon as Anna disappeared, the servants replaced her as if it were natural.
As if there had never been a servant named Anna in the first place.
Simone stared expressionlessly at the servants doing their jobs.
'What is it?'
This strange sense of incongruity.
The unnaturalness of the situation.
The servants in front of her began to feel like moving dolls.
"Ah."
I've lost my appetite.
Simone waved her hand at the servants who were about to prepare her meal and left the room.
Did she go on vacation without saying anything? That can't be.
If not, I hate to imagine it, but could something have happened to her?
'This is the Ilestone family's mansion.'
A cursed family, a cursed mansion.
It wouldn't be strange if something happened to Anna due to its influence.
'Could it be.'
Simone bit her lip without realizing it. Her steps quickened as she walked down the hallway.
She hoped her ominous premonition was wrong.
But no matter how she thought about it, it didn't make sense for Anna to disappear so suddenly unless it was due to the curse.
Above all, what about the servants who took it for granted and avoided talking about it?
'Should I go back to my room and look at the guidelines, or should I consult the Grand Duke first?'
Her increasingly hurried steps were faltering.
"Simone?"
Simone stopped and turned her gaze at the unfamiliar voice.
"...Ah, I, I'm sorry."
She seemed frightened by Simone's sharp eyes and quickly lowered her head, but she didn't run away.
She was a young servant, no less than Anna.
She had never seen her before, but it was a large mansion where she had no business seeing anyone other than the servants who took care of her, so it was natural that she didn't know her face.
Instead of asking her name, Simone asked what she was most curious about.
"Have you seen Anna?"
"Anna? You mean Anna, the older sister?"
Simone smiled in relief. She had finally met a servant who gave her a real answer to her question about Anna.
When Simone smiled, the servant seemed to relax a little and finally relaxed her body.
It seemed that she was afraid of the Necromancer herself, like the other servants.
"Come to think of it, I haven't seen Anna, the older sister, today. ...Oh? I don't think I saw her at the morning meal and schedule report either."
"You don't know why she's not there?"
"Yes, I'm in charge of a different area. I don't hear news about holidays or anything like that."
Simone's expression darkened again.
She thought that she might know something because she called her older sister, but this servant didn't know where Anna was either.
Besides, she hadn't been seen in the morning either. Even if she could skip a meal, it didn't make sense that the servants didn't check on Anna's condition when she wasn't at the schedule report.
She was getting more and more anxious.
"Is something wrong?"
The servant facing her also looked uneasy at her appearance.
Simone said honestly.
"Anna has suddenly disappeared."
There was no need to hide it as if it were someone else's business.
Several servants had already passed by the two of them while they were talking to the young servant who seemed to have just arrived at the mansion.
There were so many glances at their conversation, but they all pretended not to know and passed by.
In this strange situation, the only person who didn't pretend not to know Anna's existence was the servant in front of her, so what was the point of hiding it?
The servant's eyes widened at Simone's words.
"Anna, the older sister, has disappeared?"
"So I'm looking for her now. I'm worried. If you see her, will you tell me? Or tell Anna that I'm looking for her."
"Yes! I will!"
The servant nodded vigorously.
"I'll look for her from time to time too! Anna, the older sister, isn't the type to disappear without saying anything. I'm worried."
At that moment, Simone felt countless eyes on her and the young servant.
When Simone turned her head, the servants who were passing by in the hallway stopped and stared at the two of them with pale faces.
"..."
"...Ah."
The servant groaned softly. The senior servants were sending her glares that were close to fierce.
Simone also froze. The eyes that silently turned their heads and looked at the young servant were so cold and strangely grotesque that they made even the person looking at them shrink.
She never thought she would feel such a grotesque feeling towards a person, not a ghost.
How much time had passed in the sudden silence?
The servants who had stopped slowly turned their heads and began to go their separate ways again.
Only one person, the oldest-looking servant among those who had stopped, approached the two with a stiff face.
"Lise."
"Yes, yes!"
The middle-aged servant glared fiercely at the young servant called Lise, sighed deeply, and then bowed to Simone.
"Simone, I don't think we've met before? I'm Ruth, the head servant of the mansion."
"Yes, hello."
Unlike when she was dealing with Lise, Ruth greeted Simone with a kind expression and stood in front of Lise.
"I'm worried that she hasn't been rude to Simone, since she's a new servant."
Simone looked at Lise. Lise was somehow more frightened than when she looked at Simone, the Necromancer.
"She wasn't rude at all."
"That's a relief. Then can I take Lise with me? I was looking for her."
"Well, go ahead."
Ruth still had a kind smile on her face, bowed her head, and pulled Lise away.
Ruth's hand pulling Lise was so strong that it seemed like it would hurt.
"Simone, why don't you go back to your room now? You must have come here while looking around the mansion. This is the servants' area, and it's not a place to show guests."
"I'm looking for Anna."
She knew that it was the servants' area because it looked shabby for a mansion.
That's why she came here.
Ruth, who was only smiling, said to Simone as if to appease her.
"I'll look for her too. If I meet her, I'll tell her to go see Simone."
She seemed to want to send Simone away by making excuses.
"Okay."
Simone reluctantly answered and turned away.
Because Ruth seemed like she would stand there and not move until Simone returned.
However, Simone realized for sure with Ruth's angry voice coming from behind as she was about to move her steps.
"Are you out of your mind!"
"Yes, yes?"
"You didn't read the guidelines properly. If you want to stay here for a long time, you'd better familiarize yourself with them."
After all, Anna's disappearance was due to the influence of that curse.
Simone's steps barely found their way.
Simone, who had returned to her room, immediately opened the guidelines.
Her gaze, which was quickly reading through the guidelines, was fixed on one place.
Eighty-eighth, do not look for missing servants.
Servants had disappeared from the mansion even before Anna disappeared.
This curse was a curse she had never seen in books.
Servants gathered around Simone, who was seriously looking at the guidelines.
"Simone, what kind of curse are you trying to solve this time?"
Simone took her eyes off the book and looked around at the servants.
The servants, who had been feigning ignorance with pale faces when she asked about Anna earlier, were now peeking at the guidelines Simone was looking at with curious faces.
Simone's curse-solving had been a hot topic since she solved the curse of the man-eating tree.
Simone answered bluntly.
"I'm going to solve the curse on the missing servants."
The servants' faces turned white again at her words.
Simone said, regardless.
"I can't leave Anna like this."
Anna was the first person that Simone, or rather Seo Hyun-jeong, had become attached to.
She couldn't leave that warm, kind, and caring child as a disappeared servant.
"Simone..."
"Anna will come back to my side."
At Simone's resolute words, the servants hesitated and exchanged glances.
Servants disappear every now and then. But they shouldn't be looked for. Because it could be dangerous. Even if the person who disappeared was a friend who had been sleeping, eating, laughing, and talking together, they had to pretend not to know and send them away by rationalizing that they had just run away.
Because that was the only way with the curse.
But even so, there was no one here who could easily endure the sadness of a colleague disappearing.
"Simone."
The servants' expressions changed.
"I'll tell you about that curse. There are things that aren't written in the guidelines."
The servants, who had always treated Simone reluctantly and insincerely, were sincerely asking her for help.
"Please save Anna."
